Terms Beginning with C

CAA (Civil Aviation Authority): A Government body responsible for regulating airlines.

CARGO: Merchandise/commodities carried by means of transportation.

CARGO RECEIPT: Receipt of cargo for shipment by a consolidator (used in ocean freight).

CARRIER, COMMON: A publicly or privately owned firm or corporation that transports the goods of others over land, sea, or through the air, for a stated freight rate. By government regulation, a common carrier is required to carry all goods offered if accommodations are available and the established rate is paid.

CARTEL: An association of several independent national or international business organizations that regulates competition by controlling the prices, the production, or the marketing of a product or an industry.

CASH IN ADVANCE (C.I.A.): A method of payment for goods in which the buyer pays the seller in advance of the shipment of goods. Usually employed when the goods are built to order, such as specialized machinery.

CASH WITH ORDER (C.W.O.): A method of payment of goods in which cash is paid at the time of order and the transaction becomes binding for both buyer and seller.

C.C.E.F.: Customs Centralized Examination Facility

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN: A document certifying the country of origin of the goods. Normally endorsed by a local Chamber of Commerce or Board of Trade.

CFS (CONTAINER FREIGHT STATION): The term CFS at loading port means the location designated by carriers for the receiving of LCL cargo to be packed into containers by the carrier. At discharge ports, the term CFS means the bonded location designated by carriers or their agents for unpacking and picking up or delivery of cargo customs cleared or in bond.

CFS/CFS (PIER TO PIER): The term CFS/CFS means cargo delivered break-bulk to a carrier or agent’s CFS to be packed by the carrier or agent into containers and to be unpacked by the carrier or his agent from the container at their destination CFS.

CFS/CY (PIER TO HOUSE): The term CFS/CY means cargo delivered break-bulk to a carrier or agent’s CFS to be packed by the carrier or agent into containers and accepted by the consignee at Carrier's CY and unpacked by the consignee off Carrier's premises, all at consignee's risk and expense.

CFS CHARGE (CONTAINER FREIGHT CHARGE): The charge assessed for services performed at the container stuffing or de-stuffing point for handling in or out, packing or unpacking of cargo into/from containers.

CHARGEABLE WEIGHT: The amount of weight charged for by an air or inland carrier. It could be the actual gross weight or the volume weight if the volume exceeds the actual gross weight.
Air carriers use a ratio of 6000 cubic centimeters = 1 kilogram OR 166 cubic inches = 1 pound.
Inland carriers normally use a ratio of 1 cubic foot = 10 lbs

CHARTER: Has come to mean any non-scheduled commercial service.

CHASSIS: A wheel assembly including bogies constructed to accept mounting of containers.

C & I: Quoted price includes cost of goods and insurance.

CIA: The acronym meaning "cash in advance," a method of payment for goods whereby buyer pays seller in advance of shipment of goods.

C.I.T.E.S.: Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species.

CLASS RATES: A class of goods or commodities is a large grouping of various items under one general heading. All items in the group make up a class. The freight rates that apply to all items in the class are called rates.

CLASSIFICATION: A Customs term. The placement of an item under the correct number in the Customs tariff for duty purposes. At times this procedure becomes highly complicated; it is not uncommon for importers to resort to litigation over the correct duty to be assessed by the Customs on a given item.

CLEAN BILL OF LADING: Document of receipt issued by a carrier when the goods received are in good order.

CLEAN DRAFT: A draft to which no documents have been attached.

COMBINATION VESSELS: Container/Break-bulk vessel – this type of ship accommodates both container and break-bulk cargo.

COMMERCIAL INVOICE: An itemized list of goods shipped and their values.

COMMON CARRIER: See “Carrier, Common”.

CONFERENCE: A group of vessel operators joined together for the purpose of establishing freight rates.

RORO/CONTAINER VESSEL: Ship designed to accommodate containers and roll-on-roll-off cargo. It can be self-sustaining.

RORO/CONTAINER/BREAK-BULK VESSEL: Designated to accommodate three types of cargo, usually self-sustaining.

CONFIRMED LETTER OF CREDIT: A letter of credit, issued by a foreign bank with validity confirmed by the domestic bank

CONSIGNEE: The individual or company, to whom a seller or shipper sends merchandise and who, upon presentation of necessary documents, is recognized as merchandise owner for the purpose of declaring and paying Customs duties.

CONSIGNEE MARKS: A symbol placed on packages for export for identification purposes; generally consisting of a triangle, square, circle, diamond, cross with letters and/or numbers as well as port of discharge.

CONSIGNMENT: Is the physical transfer of goods from a seller (consignor) with whom the title remains, to another legal entity (consignee) who acts as a selling agent, selling goods and remitting the new proceeds to the consignor.

CONSIGNOR: A term used to describe any person who consigns goods to himself or to another party in a bill of lading or equivalent document. A consignor might be the owner of the goods, or a freight forwarder who consigns goods on behalf of his principal.

CONSOLIDATED SHIPMENT: A number of shipments from one or more suppliers grouped together, normally in a container and moved as a single shipment to a common destination or hub for collection or further distribution.

CONSOLIDATOR: An agent who brings together a number of shipments moving to a common destination, possibly to be de-consolidated and further distributed.

CONSORTIUM: The name for an agreement under which several nations or nationals (usually corporations) of more than one nation join together for a common purpose.

CONSUL: A Government official residing in a foreign country who is charged with the representation of the interests of his country and its nationals.

CONSULAR DECLARATION: A formal statement describing goods to be shipped made to the consul of the country of destination. Approval must be obtained prior to shipment.

CONSULAR DOCUMENTS: Special forms signed by the consul of a country to which cargo is destined.

CONSULAR INVOICE: A document required by some foreign countries showing exact information as to consignor, consignee, value and description of a shipment.

CONSULATE: The jurisdiction, term of office, or official premises of a consul.

CONTAINER: See “Ocean Containers” page in Resource Center

CONTAINER SHIP: Ocean going ship designed to carry containers both internally and on deck. Some are self-sustaining.

CONTAINERIZATION: Concept for the ultimate unitizing of cargo used by both steamship lines and air cargo lines. Containers allow a greater amount of cargo protection from weather, damage, and theft.

CONTAINERS (AIR CARGO): There are many types of air cargo containers. Containers are designed in various sizes and irregular shapes to conform to the inside dimensions of a specific aircraft.

CONTINOUS BOND: Annual Customs bond insurance compliance with all regulations and requirements.

CONTRACT RATE: A charge levied by carriers selling capacity forward over a given route to a shipper or forwarder; the client is therefore assured of capacity, which must be paid for regardless of load carried.

COUNTERTRADE: A reciprocal trading arrangement, which includes a variety of transactions involving two or more parties.

CREDIT RISK INSURANCE: A form of insurance that protects the seller against loss due to default on the part of the buyer.

CUSTOMS BONDED WAREHOUSE: A warehouse where imported goods may be stored for a limited time without being customs cleared.

CUSTOMS BROKER: A service company that transacts customhouse formalities on behalf of an importer. A Customs broker must be licensed by the CCRA and pass a government examination covering a broad range of knowledge, including all phases of import regulations, rates of duties, Customs law, etc.

CUSTOMSHOUSE: The government office where duties and or tolls are placed on imports or exports and are paid on vehicles or vessels entered or cleared.

CUSTOMS TARIFF: A schedule of charges assessed by the federal government on imported and/or exported goods.

CWO: The acronym meaning "cash with order," a method of payment for goods where cash is paid at the time of order and the transaction becomes binding on both buyer and seller.

CY (CONTAINER YARD): The term CY means the location designated by Carrier for receiving, assembling, holding, storing and delivering containers, and where containers may be picked up by shippers or re-delivered by consignees. No container yard (CY) shall be a shipper's consignee's, NVOCC's, or a forwarder's place of business, unless otherwise provided.

CY/CFS: The term CY/CFS means containers packed by shipper off Carrier's premises and delivered by shipper to Carrier's CY, all at shipper's risk and expense and unpacked by Carrier at the destination port CFS.

CY/CY: The term CY/CY means containers packed by shipper off Carrier's premises and delivered by shipper to Carrier's CY and unpacked by consignee off Carrier's premises, all at the risk and expense of cargo.

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